It’s expected that visionary business models invariably meet with pushback from established players who cling to the past in a futile effort to stall their own irrelevance to progress. We can’t overstate our optimism and excitement that is perversely propelled by the exasperation of needing to constantly transcend historic obstacles allowed to exist through lack of will and/or imagination. Opportunities abound across the international music spectrum by integrating customarily independent silos. We’ve extensively outlined our solutions across the creative and administrative/licensing gamut in posts linked herein, with transparency and divesting ourselves of archaic and arcane established systems being guiding principles. One example of existing myopia involves the newer challengers (Netflix, Amazon, et al) to the staid movie and television industries who see the value of creating content but overlook that the music included can be a profit center rather than an expense. An extension of this example is the unique prospect Twitter has to cross-promote and parlay the distribution of the music contained in visual media (and generally). So, in addition to building our flagship company, Socially Driven Music has created SDM Lite to consult the music industry and content creators who utilize music.

Although it’s difficult work to sustain resilience and to persevere in establishing a new mindset. Socially Driven Music (SDM) is the embodiment of determination. It is driven by an innate belief that its purpose is to take the broken music industry into the administrative and creative future deserved by the artists and songwriters who fuel it. One of the most effective constructs to expedite and accomplish our vision is to embrace the underrealized potential for connecting local communities of social causes around the world with artists, songwriters and fans who share a passion for social good. Organizing for social impact/good is in our DNA and an essential part of our complementary underlying Value Proposition foundation. Music artists are renowned for their periodic events in support of a usually catastrophic occurrence. SDM encourages daily humanitarianism and magnanimity for any number of causes.

Supporters of SDM are energized by the innovation outlined in its Executive Summary and corresponding essays posted on Medium which are designed to further illuminate our initiatives. Today’s post is a continuation of the company’s evolution/iteration story, which we will also extend into Medium’s new “Series” format for mobile with the individual social impact stories of our artists, writers and fans. Stories are understood to be the most effective tool in marketing, and their potential is no different in the world of music. And, at their best, music stories record poignant history. (Wikipedia: Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, often with improvisation, theatrics, or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and instilling moral values. Crucial elements of stories and storytelling include plot, characters and narrative point of view.)

There are many pattern similarities between the obstinate, single-minded points of view one faces in the microcosm of the music industry and those confronted in the world of ground-breaking businesses. But there are also many examples of innovative entrepreneurs who recognize and seize upon new opportunities laid bare by old, inefficient patterns. As SDM forges ahead, we will be first to demonstrate how we can facilitate social connections to aid causes and fix musicians’ current challenges with monetizing their music by activating fans’ willingness to become Superfans through shared ideologies. This manifests itself in myriad ways, some of which I’ve written about previously: http://bit.ly/2gzEr9B.

This past Sunday morning (3/19/17), I joined in on a conference call arranged by #LoveArmy, the extension of Dream Corps and Van Jones’ CNN program, “The Messy Truth.” Since SDM’s social impact mission is so in sync with their ambitions, and the causes SDM embraces includes the same important issues (“Love — An Epiphany about a Name and Music & Social Good!”), it’s exciting to imagine helping to build grassroots support for #LoveArmy through engagement of music artists and fans. It also seems serendipitous that SDM’s founder’s last name happens to be Love!

FIGHT DIFFERENT.The #LoveArmy is a value-based movement, advancing diversity, inclusion, and compassion. We stand against those who want to turn people on each other, rather than to each other. ❤️

Although we haven’t yet had an opportunity for an extensive conversation, on the conference call this past Sunday morning, SDM signed up to help with #LoveArmy’s reach out to social media and through messaging, two core features of our business model. In fact, our far-reaching ideas for all the goals and plans that were mentioned (e.g., local and national events, #MessyTruth watch parties, etc.) perfectly align to mobilize our music advocates (SDM Musicpreneurs) and their local artists and fans to also join the #LoveArmy.

One of the most fortuitous coincidences is a recent conversation I had with a longtime artist/writer friend, Rand Bishop. Rand has been planning his own “Peace Pilgrim Walk” beginning May 1st 2017 near Thousand Oaks, California (precise start location TBD). The purpose of the 1000-mile walk along Highway 101 from California though Oregon is to inspire constructive dialogue. The 90-day pilgrimage is designed to draw attention to the need for non-partisan (at least bi-partisan) understanding and acceptance of disparate opinions and the necessity of compromise in order to achieve solutions. It’s logical that we would want to connect the dots between our like-minded philosophies.

Followers of the SDM essays will know that our innovative, comprehensive model significantly relies on not only sophisticated social media listening and publishing, but integrated messaging (including Twitter, WhatsApp, Slack, Snapchat, You Tube Chat, etc., extending to WeChat for Asia), and advanced and predictive analytics. Check out “How to Befriend a Music Artist and Add Purpose To You Both.”

W e are similarly pleased to discover that SDM and Spotify are on the same page as concerns community outreach to all causes supported by our artists and fan bases. If you are a music artist, songwriter or fan, go to our Beta placeholder site and sign up for your invitation to join Socially Driven Music and select your social cause. You’ll find #LoveArmy among the list.

SDM will reach out to Spotify’s Director of Social Impact, Kerry Steib, to determine best practices for collaborating on not only #LoveArmy’s objectives, but also many others that are of great importance to the SDM community. For example, we’ve been recently been in touch with Part The Cloud, one of the largest fundraising groups associated with the Alzheimers Organization, as well as another group, The Caregivers Connection, which is nearly the largest group on Facebook for Caregivers. Since SDM is the primary facilitator of untapped multichannel/omnichannel marketing for music impacting social causes, we expect that our creating and populating new special interest playlists utilizing our mix of social media, messaging, analytics, Periscoping, etc., will resonate with Spotify and its sponsors.

Being a forward-thinking company demands continual assimilation of a firehose of information about competition and technological advancements, and especially an unending quest to merge the best ideas. This journey encompasses ostensibly dissimilar silos that become obviously connected when one applies a thirsty imagination. The documented science about the benefits of music, when combined with analytics of social media and any individual’s diverse interests, can translate to Playlists that motivate an array of actions, including incentive to join in doing social good. Have a look at the mind-boggling work of IBM Watson and one brilliant example of the potential put forward by Alex Da Kid (the unrealized global geo-sociological-economic-political-demographic cross-connections of artists and fans envisioned by an SDM collaboration with this technology and others are endless, especially as we increasingly factor in Artificial Intelligence, 360 Video, Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality to the mix!):

So, we are encouraging our growing Socially Driven Music community to also be a part of #LoveArmy. Anyone can join the #LoveArmy directly. However, as mentioned above, SDM is exclusively dedicated to music artists, songwriters and fans who are also passionate about social good causes of their choosing. SDM is the ideal funnel for music people who want to participate in the #LoveArmy. Let’s show our support of #LoveArmy by working to coordinate their work with Rand Bishop’s “Peace Pilgrim Walk.” We can begin by organizing local shows by Rand and local musicians along the route in tandem with Van Jones’ CNN “The Messy Truth” watch parties and other related gatherings - any of which we can also live stream via Twitter’s Periscope (or Facebook). For more information, Tweet us @SociallyDriven1 or message Socially Driven Music on Slack at Channel #music-social-causes, Facebook, Snapchat, You Tube Chat or email: info@sociallydrivenmusic.com.

Here’s Rand Bishop’s (soon-to-be hit) song “Answering The Call” that is the perfect rallying theme for our efforts:

Who doesn’t love it, the Cinderella story, A rags-to-riches tale of guts and glory, The outta nowhere to the top allegory

The stuff of legend, like David and GoliathWhen underdogs just won’t let long odds keep ’em quiet, Sometimes a slingshot is enough to slay the giant

Hey now, it’s an answering the call thingHey now, it’s a get up when you fall thing, Hey now, it’s a never stoop to crawl thing, Never think small thing, answering the call thing

A hobbled gymnast, a one-handed pitcherBoth could-a quit defeated, shattered, and embittered, Instead, she sticks her landing and he throws a no hitter

So, just like Joseph, put on your magic dream coatBecause no potion is more potent than a ray of hopeToday you ride the bench, tomorrow you may play the hero

Hey now, it’s an answering the call thingHey now, a keep your eye on the ball thingHey now, it’s a tearin’ down the wall thingStand up straight and tall thing, answering the call thing

Hey now, it’s an answering the call thingHey now, it’s a get up when you fall thingHey now, it’s a never stoop to crawl thingNever think small thing, answering the call thing

Your number’s up, coach called your name, You got your shot, get in the game ’n’ Take a baby step closer to the hall of fame

Remember back when everyone said that you were crazy Those disbelievers, dream un-weavers, where are they lately You finally got your golden chance to go the distanceBet you’re glad you didn’t take the path of least resistance

Rand Bishop — Peace Pilgrim 2017:

Stephen C. Love, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President, Socially Driven Music, was one of the co-architects of the legendary ATV Music Group (publishers of the Lennon-McCartney catalogue), where he served as Executive Vice President, Worldwide. His career includes EVP Music, Worldwide, at Carolco Pictures, All American Television and Pearson Television (Fremantle). Long considered a big thinker and visionary, he has extensive experience in international music publishing creative, royalties and overall administration, Film and TV supervision, and negotiation of composer, artist and soundtrack agreements for dozens of productions, as well as being adept at negotiation of all synchronization and master use licenses. SDM is a labor of love (pun intended) to transform the music industry for the benefit of music creators, while motivating social good along the way.